For me, Labor Day was made for my mom. That's the weekend she decided to take a break from water and get to work making a son. I was born September 3. The majority of the time I would get a 3 day weekend from school. That Friday I would always announce that in celebration of my world premiere all of my fellow students had Monday off. It was my way of kicking it all off. The workforce was a bit different. Retail doesn't reward their employees for holidays, but the consumers. Sales all of the place and open weekends already I would need to request time off so at least on my birthday I wouldn't hate my life for 8 hours. First world problems, I know. But what else are we supposed to do when bills are due, you're young and reckless, and still have an entire life of mistakes ahead of you? Only dreams of changing a world with your passion. It seems so easy and simple. Its just convincing 8 billion people to do the same despite our petty differences. This was my first birthday that I can ever remember that didn't land on the 3 day holiday. This time, it was on a Tuesday. And the work I've put in on my day dreams and passions have been minimal if anything at all. Like my brain has been on a 3 day vacation for the past few years. And the world continues to burn, 3rd world problems.
I'm 27 years old. This is my year to join the greats and do something that will make history have a hard time getting me out of her mind. I have the support, the vision, the potential. Sometimes, I just fall asleep at the will. I wonder if being born on an extended weekend of a holiday had anything to do or say with the way I came out. I hope everyone enjoyed it, whether you worked or relaxed. Me, I think its about time I get off my ass.
-DCR
So I am here in the UK.
Manchester, to be precise in the town of Gorton.
I haven’t been back in the UK for a vacation in 20 years. This first time around is me going solo and hopefully in a few years I will be able to bring my wife and family.
The town of Gorton where I used to live and where I am currently residing is mainly noted for being the birthplace of the greatest football (soccer) team (IMHO as I am totally biased) probably that has ever existed or ever will.
Manchester City F.C. is the choice of most people in Manchester who have discernment, taste and a pleasant disposition. They are fondly called ‘The Blues’.
There is another team that shares the name of Manchester that you might not have heard of. But really the only people who tend to support them have very small IQ’S ergo they wouldn’t be reading this article anyway.
So yesterday I was lucky enough to go to a ‘match’. It was wonderful as my boys in blue won.
That’s my football story.
Gorton has also been widely regarded as a high crime area for which its reputation of being a tough town is based entirely on truth.
I have been asked many times why did you come back to Gorton for a vacation and I simply say it’s because I was raised here, what’s left of my family are here and some of my close friends are here.
It is also what I used to call ‘home’.
It still has much of the same feel as when I used to live here. The characters are still here, the idiots are still here ( the ones who haven’t died from drugs or in jail) and the weather is still a version of ‘cloudy’ most days.
I am a week into my trip and there are so many more things I want to do.
End of part 1.
TDB.
Swing
Labor
Is the neighbor to
Hard work and
Dedication.
It’s a mother giving
Birth to a beautiful
Baby girl
Even after multiple
Miscarriages.
It’s working for the first time
In a book store
And laughing about
How customers treat
Long lines and foul-mouthed
Youngsters playing
With the fart machines.
It’s carrying a backpack
That weighs 70 pounds
Because knowledge is
Worth the weight upon
Young shoulders.
The bolder the student,
The older those shoulders
Begin to feel.
It’s packing up belongings
And moving across the country
Because a better life
Begins with the words
“I can do this.”
It’s carrying guilt, doubt, and burdens,
And laying them down
At the feet of a savior
And saying, “This is my load.”
Sometimes it’s God’s turn
To carry our baggage.
I am the sum of my parts,
Meaning that I am the creation
Of arts and fresh starts
From my teacher parents
And hardworking grandparents.
We all serve to create a future
For our future generations.
As I begin a new journey,
A new job here,
I find myself humbled
By working and doing odd jobs
Because I cannot afford to
Go to college on my good looks.
Or even my sense of humor and wit.
I work because it builds me up,
Prepares me for my life
Beyond the safety net
Of these butterfly walls.
So, this is a tribute to those
Who labor every day,
Seeking a better future for
Themselves and their next
Generation of leaders.
We are the tomorrow
And the today.
I can only pray that
We step up to the plate,
Saying “Hey batter, batter,
Throw me a curve ball,
I’m ready for all you’ve got.”
Even when I strike out,
I learn how not to play.
Even when I home run,
I remain humble enough
To keep practicing
My talents because
It’s all in the swing.
-Seraphine the Poet
September 6th, 2013
Gorton:part 1
Torn from a peaceful slumber by the
unmistakable interjection of sonic daggers
Ripping against your unconsciousness
Morning after morning after morning
Most weeks you wonder
if you will ever catch a break
If life will ever slow down
For just a minute
Just enough to let you catch your breath
Devoting one third of your life to sleep
Another third to work and
the endless sea of parked cars known as traffic
The third you are finally left with
is mostly consumed with
questioning the validity of such a flawed system
Chasing fleeting moments of freedom
And just trying to forget
We live for the weekend
Having sold ourselves into indentured servitude
In form of credit card debt and student loans
What option do we have now but to play along
Following this path
One finds themselves able to see into the future
As days become decades
Devoted to someone else’s dream
We are left with the broken bodies and spirits
Barely able to hold on
But this can’t be it
Searching for purpose
In a world that values money
more than human lives
We are not afraid of hard work
We just want it to mean something
To matter
To make a difference
-Joshua Genius
